Current Events > It's 09/11/2001

(+) Yeah! (+)

PMarth2002 posted...

At school. High school freshmen at the time.

---

Getting out of bed.

---

In home economics. I was in US History when it happened (coincidently), and the vice principal was going around knocking on all the doors telling everyone what happened. We were watching a film, and the teacher just thought he was saying hi, so he just waved.

Didn't know what happened until I got to 2nd period.

---

I was born but zero years old

I think it's weird they showed you guys the footage as kids

---

High school. The schools history teacher came running down the hall yelling for everyone to turn on the tv

---

Heart-Mk-II posted...

Middle school classroom.

---

Was home most of the day, worked a 4 hour shift at my part time job later that afternoon/evening.

Started college in late September that year.

---

Sleeping, then in my fathers bedroom watching the news....then I went for a Hike in the Mountains.
I wanted to see the skies without contrails. I did hear one plane though, which had to be military, probably coming down from Fort Drum.
---

Doe posted...

I was born but zero years old

I think it's weird they showed you guys the footage as kids

The nation all but stopped functioning that day, and was probably the single biggest thing to happen to America since... probably the moon landing? I could see keeping it from very young kids, but anyone that is a teenager or older could comprehend what was happening, and it was history in the making.

The teachers would have wanted to see what was going on as much as anyone else, too. Especially those with friends and family in NYC.

---

That's fair. There's not really any event in my lifetime that rivals it like that. Something that redefined real-life conventions. I guess I should hope that never happens. Unless it's like the people storming the white house or something lol

---

Doe posted...

That's fair. There's not really any event in my lifetime that rivals it like that. Something that redefined real-life conventions. I guess I should hope that never happens. Unless it's like the people storming the white house or something lol

Another thing is that we did not have all the answers right then and there. Today, we know it was terrorists, we know who was responsible, and we pretty much know what happened (conspiracy theories notwithstanding).

On that day, we were in the dark on a lot of things. The first plane hit, and it was confusion. Was it an accident? On purpose? Terrorism? When the 2nd plane hit, we knew it wasnt an accident, but didnt know why it was happening. And then we later hear that a plane hit then Pentagon, and another plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. So we didnt know if more attacks were on the way, and if they were, where they were occurring.

We also had no idea what ground zero looked like for many hours, as it wasnt safe for workers to get in that area. I was a zombie all day, just staring at the TV. It wasnt until like 1am where me and my roommate realized I dont think anything new is gonna come out tonight, and we finally turned off the TV, after watching nearly 16 straight hours of CNN (the only 24/7 news channel we had at the time).

I hope everything I said doesnt come off as a lecture or anything of that nature. Just since you werent there, Im not sure if words can do justice to just how surreal that whole day was. Ive never experienced anything remotely close to it since then in my life, let alone some of the weird stuff that followed (for example, there was a chain email hoax that people started spreading, saying that Nostradamus had predicted this would happen... weird shit like that panicked a lot of people).

---

In 8th grade, a kid ran out of a class room and screamed "dude they blew up the World Trade Center" and I thought he was stupid and laughed and a teacher yelled at me.

---

The Popo posted...

The nation all but stopped functioning that day, and was probably the single biggest thing to happen to America since... probably the moon landing? I could see keeping it from very young kids, but anyone that is a teenager or older could comprehend what was happening, and it was history in the making.

The teachers would have wanted to see what was going on as much as anyone else, too. Especially those with friends and family in NYC.

Idk the 1986 Challenger disaster seemed like a big moment, particularly for the Gen X kids.

---

p-m posted...

At school, just a normal day in November.

---

I was in like 1st or 2nd grade. I vaguely remember that day, but i really had no idea what was going on.

---

Bestoffuture posted...

Idk the 1986 Challenger disaster seemed like a big moment, particularly for the Gen X kids.

I can remember where I was. I was sitting in St. Peters grade school.
I can also remember Chernobyl, as well a Ryan White. ~For those I was at my Grandparent's house.
---

Bestoffuture posted...

Idk the 1986 Challenger disaster seemed like a big moment, particularly for the Gen X kids.

The Oklahoma City bombing was big as well at least as far as news coverage goes.

---

Bestoffuture posted...

Idk the 1986 Challenger disaster seemed like a big moment, particularly for the Gen X kids.

The challenger disaster was terrible but the real Gen X moment was collapse of USSR/Destroying the Berlin Wall in 1989. That was another whole world stood still thing.

---

Hell I'm old enough recalling the deaths of Elvis, John Wayne, Lennon being shot down, Regan's assassination attempt, Iran hostage crisis, Pan-Am hijacking - (I think that was the one where they killed some hostage and dumped them out the door onto the tarmac).


---

PrettyBoyFloyd posted...

Hell I'm old enough recalling the deaths of Elvis, John Wayne, Lennon being shot down, Regan's assassination attempt, Iran hostage crisis, Pan-Am hijacking - (I think that was the one where they killed some hostage and dumped them out the door onto the tarmac).

Okay Boomer... I'm assuming you are early GenX. I am squarely in the middle.

All joking aside I am pretty sure I can remember John Lennon, but only because I remember a day back then right around that time, that my Mom was completely upset about something that happened in the world. I'm 90% sure it would have been that.
---

I was 3 years old so I dont remember it, but that era is when my memory started to form so the atmosphere of the immediate post-911 US is kinda the earliest stuff I remember

---

Try_Another___ posted...

I was 3 years old so I dont remember it, but that era is when my memory started to form so the atmosphere of the immediate post-911 US is kinda the earliest stuff I remember

That's pretty shitty.
TBH, I wouldn't want to be young - young right now.
---

I was asleep in my dorm room when the first plane hit. My buddy woke me up pounding on the door yelling "We're going to war". The boy was not wrong.

---

3rd or 4th grade classroom.

---

SiO4 posted...

That's pretty shitty.
TBH, I wouldn't want to be young - young right now.

I wouldnt say it was super shitty. Kids right now are probably being much more traumatized than I was from all of that. I think that 9/11 made a lot of people lean into patriotism really hard and it didnt really have that effect on me

---

Tyranthraxus posted...

There are people born after 9/11 that are going to fight the war their parents enlisted in when 9/11 happened.

Like woah man.

---

Sleeping

---

Try_Another___ posted...

I wouldnt say it was super shitty. Kids right now are probably being much more traumatized than I was from all of that. I think that 9/11 made a lot of people lean into patriotism really hard and it didnt really have that effect on me

No, I don't mean kids right now.
I mean people in their early-early 20's.

We will see how the kids nowadays come out. At least most have GenX parents, which isn't such a bad thing. Most of my friends kids are pretty well centered for their ages.
---

High school sophomore

---

SiO4 posted...

No, I don't mean kids right now.
I mean people in their early-early 20's.

We will see how the kids nowadays come out. At least most have GenX parents, which isn't such a bad thing. Most of my friends kids are pretty well centered for their ages.

Ah I see- I think Ive turned out well overall, I feel that Im pretty stoic and skeptical of what Im told by those who have an interest in swaying my opinion so thats better than a lot of 9/11-ites. My parents are GenX too, they were pretty young when I was born. Most people I know in my age group have parents who are around a decade older than my own. I fall into a sort of grey area between millennial and gen z as far as disposition goes I think. Its a good reminder to never let the quantified generation thing get to your head too much

---

First plane hit - what an idiot

Second plane hit - oh shit were all doomed. Wheres the army!

Those were my thoughts. I was in class in NYC, thankfully no where near the twin towers. Now I work downtown not too far from where they stood and not too far from the freedom tower. I admit I get paranoid sometimes.

---

3rd grade classroom

Try_Another___ posted...

Ah I see- I think Ive turned out well overall, I feel that Im pretty stoic and skeptical of what Im told by those who have an interest in swaying my opinion so thats better than a lot of 9/11-ites. My parents are GenX too, they were pretty young when I was born. Most people I know in my age group have parents who are around a decade older than my own. I fall into a sort of grey area between millennial and gen z as far as disposition goes I think. Its a good reminder to never let the quantified generation thing get to your head too much

That might be your inner GenX coming through.
---

SiO4 posted...

That might be your inner GenX coming through.

Yeah I think its a factor. The older I get I see more of my parents in myself. I think most people do. Luckily Im on great terms with my parents and realize they did their best in spite of many hindrances that come with being young parents so its something I take with pride. I feel that a lot of GenXers were also pretty nihilistic/complacent too but not out of ignorance, more so out of pragmatism or something. I feel some anxiety about feeling that way at times too, like knowing Im overmatched by the negative aspects of the world at large

---

Try_Another___ posted...

Yeah I think its a factor. The older I get I see more of my parents in myself. I think most people do. Luckily Im on great terms with my parents and realize they did their best in spite of many hindrances that come with being young parents so its something I take with pride. I feel that a lot of GenXers were also pretty nihilistic/complacent too but not out of ignorance, more so out of pragmatism or something. I feel some anxiety about feeling that way at times too, like knowing Im overmatched by the negative aspects of the world at large

It sounds like you have to know what you are talking about.
Also, it sounds like they knew what being latch key really was like.
But also, I've noticed GenXers don't shield their children in quite the same way as Boomers did, on their second marriage. I dealt with a bunch of shit, but thank god my father never remarried after my parents, split up...and then the subsequent passing of my Mother, all within the same like two year period.

Being GenX, and still alive, is different. We are completely outnumbered, just for starters.
---